Pieces of Our Past, Paths to our Future
by Samaraleaf
Summary: A growing collection of short stories. Newest Chapter: "Lost" A darker Shadow and Sonic drabble. "You've forgotten you're promise" he continued "To Maria."
1. Shadow 'Awakening' part 1

**I do not own any of these characters they all belong to Sega. **

**Here are some short pieces of work I may or may not continue to work on / finish. I have horrible self-motivation so the chances of these being completed/continued are slim. Any ways I hope you like these stories. **

**Story 1 Part 1**

_Drip...Drip...Drip...Drip..._

Thick liquid rhythmically hit the metal floor. Five seconds between each drip, causing a small puddle to spread slowly across the floor. The liquid started its journey from a large glass cylinder, about a meter and in diameter and two meters in height in size, half full the green liquid trickled slowly out from a crack in the glass. The green substance ran down the glass, the control panel, the metal base and slowly to the floor.

_Drip...Drip...CRASH!_

The glass cylinder broke in to shards as a heavy gloved fist pounded on the transparent surface and then through as the brittle material gave way.

_Shaaaaaaaaa..._

The green liquid spilled quickly through the shattered glass and to the floor.

"...Another...gone" a voice mumbled.

Dull eyes looked through small glasses at the mess now left on the lab floor. 'Another day gone, another 'project' gone, another shred of hope...gone' a sigh escaped from the large form as he turned away from the failed test site. He looked at his glove which now had sparkling shards of glass and the thick green substance on its white protective surface.

"Is it truly impossible? Just a wish? A dream? A fantasy?" he looked up then down and shook his head. 'No. I will find the secret to this puzzle.' He stood taller, head held high. 'I **will** find the cure for my Maria' he strode out of the lab room with confident strides.

How many could he count now? How many lives have passed? How many creatures? How many days more? How many gone?

"Professor!"

He stopped and looked around for who had called.

"Professor Robotinik!"

A young man wearing a white lab coat ran over to him.

"We have been looking all over for you." The young man began, "We need you to come to lab 5, we are preparing the next specimen early-"

"And you need me to make sure everything is done correctly." Professor Robotinik finished for him "you think you would know how to everything by now with all the projects that we have done."

The young man smiled sheepishly "Well no one is perfect."

The professor smiled back. "True. Well let's not keep the others waiting any longer"

The two walked down the hall 'till they reached a door marked **LAB 5** in red letters. A small device on the side beeped as they approached. 'Enter Password' the screen on the device flashed. The young man ran his fingers over the keyboard entering the 5 letter password. M-A-R-I-A. 'Access Granted' the screen flashed and the door opened with a 'whir' as it shifted to the side and then back as the two had gone inside.

"Here we are." The Professor called out to no one in particular.

The lab was fairly large. Along the right wall there were counters that were covered with papers, flasks and test tubes, Bunsen burners, and the occasional computer. On the left of the room was a large computer with readings on a creature that was contained in a large glass and metal cylinder in the center of the room. The computers had information such as the creatures DNA and basic functions. The heart rate monitor was at NA as they had not yet 'awoken' the creature.

A green glow emitted from the glass cylinder in the center of the room. A hedgehog floated in the center of transparent green liquid in the cylinder. Soft light leaked through the green substance from the base and top of the container highlighting the creature's soft form.

"Status?" the Professor asked.

"Form is stable, DNA is stable, looks like everything is prepared for tomorrow" replied one of the scientists as they scribbled something down on a piece of paper.

"Excellent" he smiled as he walked over to the computer with the information just listed.

"Then we'll leave you to finish procedure, we are needed in lab 3 to clean up from a previous... error" the assistant spoke, and soon the room was empty except for the professor and the hedgehog.

The professor approached the softly glowing glass and gazed at the being inside. It was not like normal hedgehogs, they had developed it to be more human like. It had long legs and arms about the proportion of a human even though it was only about three feet tall. It had hands just like a humans with opposable thumbs, though they looked delicate in the soft light. Its feet were also very human like and soft like a young child's. The hedgehog had quills just like normal hedgehogs they were thin and there were a large quantity of them, all of them looked like fine needles and wouldn't be able to penetrate much but skin. The creature's eyes were closed as if in a peaceful sleep. Black fur waved in the liquid as bubbles rose to the top of the chamber as if it were breathing.

"It won't survive... " A voice broke the silence.

The professor jumped at the sound of another voice, his eyes hurriedly scanned the room for the speaker.

"You need more than just your mathematical equations and science" the dark voice spoke again.

Something stepped out of the shadows. It was tall and had blood red eyes that seemed to..no that did bore though your entire being and reason of existence.

The professor stood there shocked for a number of reasons. One being that the very thing that stepped out to meet him wasn't even human, two it had already predicted the creatures death, and three the speaker had gotten in without any alarms going off.

"Who...no, what are you?" the professor asked very bravely the dark speaker had to admit.

"Black Doom, Leader, King, whatever you prefer, of the Black Arms" he spoke darkly and stepped closer to the professor revealing he had not two red eyes but three. He continued speaking seeing the professor was still absorbing this information.

"I have a proposition for you. See I am looking for the Chaos Emeralds, you have heard of them am I correct?" then professor nodded and he went on, "The problem is they are on your planet you call earth"

"So you want me to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds for you?" the Professor asked

"Not quite, you see, your little 'project' here has gained my interest and I want it to be the one to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds, but of course to do that it must survive." Black Doom left the sentence hanging there.

"You can make it exceed our current expectations can't you, of making it live forever?" The professor caught on quickly to Black Doom.

Black Doom smirked "of course."

**Let me know what you thought of this bit I may continue this one unless I get sidetracked... **

**Review please all comments and critique are appreciated.**


	2. Shadow 'Awakening' part 2

**Part 2 of story 1 enjoy.**

**I do not own any of these characters.**

**Anything in italics is Shadows POV**

The professor now deep in thought turned back to the creature in the large tube.

"It will do more than just retrieve the Chaos Emeralds for you won't it?" He was smart, he knew if it was going to be immortal it would be kept around to do more than just gathering a few chaos charged rocks.

"You could say that" Black Doom shrugged obviously not going to give away his plans.

A soft 'hmm' came from the professor as he mused over the decision.

Chaos Emeralds were extremely powerful, he knew that from firsthand experience, they could be used to heal and revive bodies from physical injuries as the studies had shown so far. Yet everything has a dark side the Chaos Emeralds were well known to cause chaos as they were so called.

His creature could be brought to life if he accepted the offer but the creature would then also be used to cause either destruction or peace, maybe both. If he completed his experiments in time he could use the creature to find a cure for his granddaughter, of course this deal would allow him to help his daughter and the world sooner.

Too many thoughts of what could happen; many of them were ending badly, few ending perfectly, many with no end at all. The majority of outcomes were incalculable(yes that is a word).

"Are there any...side effects... I should know about?" he questioned one eyebrow raised eyes still on the hedgehog.

"Immortal to natural causes of death, immunity to poisons /diseases, increased healing and blood restorative qualities, little to no nutrition is needed to support the life form, and it will be able to resist damage to extreme heat and extreme cold. Not that these are side effects, the ability to control Chaos energy and a stronger resistance to damage may cause the body to change to support these qualities further." Black Doom spoke in a monotone voice. He would not allow himself to reveal any emotions that could give away his plans.

The professor turned back to face the dark form. All the qualities needed for the research and more!

"I accept."

The dark being would grin maliciously but if he did his plans would be ruined. He handed the human a small vial of a dark substance.

"Run this through the creatures blood stream when you awaken it, too early or too late and the creature will die, I will return in 50 years time." Black Doom then disappeared.

The professor held the precious liquid with care, It was the key to his cure for Maria.

Quickly finishing the preparation procedure he secretly poured the dark liquid in to the blood that would be transfused in to the creature then he stepped away to admire his work before leaving the room in darkness and the steady green glow of light behind the creature.

Lab 5 was now filled with scientists, some holding clip boards jotting down notes, others scanned the monitor of the large computer. Final preparations were made as the hedgehog inside the large cylinder was being prepared for 'Awakening'.

The creature now had an oxygen mask covering its mouth and nose, several tubes ran into its arms which would deposit blood in to his major arteries, and lastly multiple wires, connected to machines on the outside of the container, would read his pulse and 'awaken' him.

Professor Gerald Robotinik stood at the front of the room eyes on every scientist in the area.

"Alright every one, Listen up." He started but the others continued to talk. 'This is just like trying to get the attention of a bunch of school kids' he thought with a displeased frown on his face his large bushy brown moustache drooping.

"I said, LISTEN UP!"

Some turned to him others continued to talk.

*CRASH!*

Every one turned to see what had dropped, fearful of it damaging work on the project, only to find the professor smiling as he addressed the crowd putting away a music player away in his pocket which had produced the sound.

"Now that I have your attention, it's time to Awaken Project Shadow, everyone get to your stations." He directed them.

The scientists busied themselves pushing buttons on the large computer, gathering notes, checking and re-checking the creatures status. Professor Gerald held his hand over a large red button waiting for the scientists to finish their tasks. The 'Awakening' would be powered by a chaos emerald like always.

"Ready for awakening....go." it was spoken calmly as all figures in the room backed away from the center to watch the hedgehog come to life as the button was pushed.

The wires inside crackled with energy sparking a weak pulse to the creature as blood began trickling in to the dark hedgehogs veins. A soft and steady *beep*...*beep*...*beep* could be heard from one of the monitors as it read the new pulse.

Gerald watched as the last of the secretly 'tainted blood' dribbled in to the still form.

The black Hedgehogs eyes were about to open to reveal natural coloured irises when its pulse suddenly raced.

*beep*..*beep*..*beep*

_The Hedgehog who had felt calm just a nanosecond ago suddenly felt like a lightning bolt of extremely high voltage hit his heart. _

The creature's eyes slammed close as it arched its back and opened its mouth to scream. The first change was sharp canine teeth.

The professor stood wide eyed as he watched the creature change. Every human in the room was frozen to the spot. None of the experiments had reacted this way before.

*beep*.*beep*.*beep*

_Pain shot through my veins like needles and knives slicing and stabbing. Pain racing down my arm, my legs, my body, Aghh! My head!_

The creature now doubled over, hands were up in a flash grasping its head as it continued to scream its agony. The fingers tightened their grip, sharp nails digging in to his head, trying to stop the pain. Slowly its quills began to gather in different sections, they became razor sharp, enough that they could cut through steel.

*Beep* *BEEP* *BEEEEEE----*

_My head! Why does it hurt so much?! Stop! Stop! Please...It hurts so much...Ahhh!_

The creature writhed inside the cylinder as it clutched its head in pain, some wires pulled away from its body as it continued to curl up in to a ball, a normal instinct for a hedgehog. A patch of jet black fur on the hedgehog's forehead slowly began to turn red; this patch became a streak as it traveled between two ears and soon reached the tip of one thick, long, deadly sharp quill.

_It stopped...no...No...NO! Nggh! Ahhh! STOP!_ _Why!? Stop, please ...Why?_

The creature stopped holding its head which now had six sharp quills; One in the center arched up. Two on each side started out strait back then rose up in to sharp points, the last one at the back stood straight out. Each quill had a blood red streak on the top giving the creature a very demonic look. Two jet black quills stood out on his back, there were no fine soft quills now. The newly formed quills looked aerodynamic and sharper that any blade, no one would want to touch those.

The professor's heart was fluttering in panic, excitement, fear...Did he make a mistake? Was it working? Why was it screaming so much? He watched as it let out another shriek as it grasped its arms still doubled over.

_STOP! I demand you stop this!_

Screams were replaced with growls that made some of the watching humans flinch or back up in fear. The creature's arms now too had red streaks starting just below the shoulder going over the elbows and ending in two red dipped fingers. The legs soon followed as red trailed down over his knees and down to his feet.

_Ahhhhhhhh! Wh-What is this-this energy?! I-I can't take it! No! Stop! This is too much! I Can't Take It! _

The hedgehog if that's what it still was had its hands clenched in to fists which it pressed against its head. It had stopped producing sound after its last scream and everyone was now watching in the silence as it seemed to gather a dark red aura around it.

'It's gathering chaos energy !' The professor realised in shock and quickly predicted the outcome.

"Everybody get down NOW!" He yelled and was obeyed.

Un-natural red eyes snapped open, it's back arched slightly, arms spread...A shrill scream...And the red energy was released.

_***CRASH!***_

Shards of glass and thick green liquid soared across the room in all directions.

The life form stood there among the destruction like the greatest of demons, yet the last change, a soft patch of snow white fur on its chest, made him look like a faint light of hope in darkness.

**The last sentence kept changing, I was like no that doesn't work or no I don't want it to end that way or gahhh! Do you like the ending? Do you want it to continue? (I won't continue Shadows story (Story 1) unless asked)**

**Anyways I have bits of a Tails doll story I **_**might**_** post (very small chance of happening because it's incomplete) I also have a Shadow and Silver friendship story planned out. I'm trying to think of a good Sonic story.**

**Please post reviews even critique is appreciated. The more reviews you post the more (and sooner) I will post my stories.**

**Thank you for reading my stories! ~Samara**


	3. Tails Doll Story

**Here is a creepy little one-shot. Let me know if you want this to continue. Characters won't be killed, at least not unless you want them to be...**

**Any ways I decided to write a Tails doll story for 'dark moments' writing. If you like it let me know I may just continue it. **

I do not own any of these characters and never will.

A normal day in Tails' workshop usually consisted of the upgrading of the _Tornado, _creation and fixing of Chaos Emerald trackers, Blueprints of strange new inventions and the occasional explosion.

And a loud explosion was what happened at this very moment.

Ka-Boom!

Tails was sitting on the ground of his workshop a wrench in one hand and fizzling wires in the other. His normal clean fur was covered in soot on the front and small oil stains covered his face, arms, and now grey-black gloves.

"No!" he growled unhappily looking at his burnt component that stood in front of him.

A blue blur suddenly appeared beside the scowling fox. "What ya blow up this time Tails?"

The blue hedgehog, Sonic, handed his friend a damp towel to clean off with as he inspected the contraption.

It looked like a simple metal box at first but the inside was covered in complicated wires and smaller components. A smooth glass sphere was in the middle of the box and several large wires were connected to it, some of which were in Tails' hands.

Tails dropped the wrench and wires, accepting the towel, as he began explaining.

"I'm making a container that will block the Chaos Emeralds radiation, this way they won't be detected on the Chaos Emerald scanners by enemies or rivals. Unfortunately it decided to short circuit on me because there is no Chaos Emerald inside it at the moment. I would go on and explain more but you probably wouldn't understand."

Tails stood up and began wiping the grime of his fur as Sonic poked the box half expecting it to blow up.

"It's a good idea but if you're going to blow the workshop and yourself up in the process, especially in the middle of the night, I would suggest leaving it for another day." The older mobian grinned, "I'm going to bed, and you should to." And he was gone.

Tails sighed looking at the box to his now clean fur. He set the box on a counter beside the now dirty towel and began rolling up the blue prints and putting away the tools.

...

Dark, hollow, lifeless eyes scanned the shore of Mystic Ruins, not far from Tails' Workshop. The figure hovered a few inches over the ground. As a shadow in the dark it sped forward in the darkness, a red orb of light hung over its head allowing it to see its path as it headed off to start its mission.

...

Tails stood at the entrance to his Workshop making sure he had put everything away in the right place; his hand hovered over the light switch before flicking it off to confirm he was done. He turned to go up the stairs when the silhouette of a figure at the top caused him to hesitate. 'Sonic had said he was going to bed...', but then again shadow didn't even look like Sonic. He flicked the stairway lights on so he could identify the figure. It took the lights a second to turn on creating a dim yellow light.

A millisecond to reveal the shadow.

A nanosecond for Tails to recognise the figure.

It felt like it took a decade before he could even choke out a sound.

Tails was slammed in to the wall as the figure grasped his shoulder with sharp claws after speeding down the stairs.

Blank , soulless eyes, stared at Tails. A red crystal, hanging from the head of the Tails Doll, emitted a red orb of light. The doll looked almost exactly like Tails except for stitches lining it and sharp claws and teeth.

It laughed, mouth curved in to a sharp Cheshire smile.

Tails was still shocked his eyes were wide pupils drastically smaller as he stared in horror. The Tails Doll, still holding on to Tails left shoulder, whispered in to his ear.

"Can you feel the sunshine?"

No... I am not going to finish this ...I tried to but failed horribly. No, you won't see the fail ending of this story...Ever.

Next piece I will post will be a Sonic and shadow friendship one-shot. The one shots may connect to one another eventually.

May post another story this week or the next.......

**Review!**


	4. Metal Emotions

Yeah I know this one is really short but It was getting late...

________________________

He stood there over the large form; he had scanned him over in-numerous times, the vital signs always showing negative. He was supposed to feel something wasn't he, when someone dies? No. He was a robot, how could he? It wasn't in his program to 'feel'.

What was it that priority one had called it? Sadness? Sorrow? Anguish? Or was it Anger, Rage, and hatred. No it was Joy...or happiness...Right? Wasn't that how he was supposed to feel?

No! He was getting this all wrong...

He had no emotions, how could he? He was a robot. He was created.

His sensors scanned the form yet again and they picked up nothing yet again. is dead. It was a fitting death in a way. Freak accident, Death by sound, Ironic isn't it?

The doctor had been building a weapon that would emit a high pitch frequency combined with a sharp blast of wind. It would be a moving shard of sound barrier that would cut through things like a hot knife through butter. Eggman had successfully built it and named it 'Sonic Sound Speed Gun'. Though he had 300 IQ points, he did not calculate the power or velocity of the weapon. The robot handling the tool had poor audio sensors and fired before could reach cover. That name is certainly bad luck for the doctor.

So here Robotnik lay on the floor dead in a small pond of his own blood. A jagged hole in his chest and out his back.

Surely he was supposed to feel something. Anything. No. He couldn't he was a robot. Robots can't 'feel' not unless they have a program allowing it.

How long has he been lying here for now? Three days? Four? His internal clock measured about 79 hours 46 minutes and 45 seconds and counting. He was free and he spent the first three and a bit days staring at the body. This was mourning right? The act of showing respect and sadness for the dead? Wait. Isn't sadness and emotion?

No, he wasn't showing sadness, he couldn't. After all the human had ordered him around like a slave, why would he be sad about his death? But the doctor did create a marvellous weapon. He was showing respects, that's all. Respect for the dead, for they did.

He turned to the 'SSSG' and picked it up, the robot that had fired the gun had been smashed by the recoil.

The 'Triple S,G' was smooth black and blood red, shaped like a regular 9 mill. Handgun, a red stripe running down the barrel and the hammer, the rest was jet black.

Funny how things work like that, how he could have emotions, but now...Now he understood them, emotions.

He was a Robot he couldn't have feelings, only logic. No soul, just programs. No emotions, just expressions. No life or death, just on or off.

Emotions are feelings, feelings of how much you value something and react according to that. He has no emotions. Why? Because he has no 'true' values. He didn't value others, he couldn't.

He was a robot. A weapon. An object. Just like this gun.

Metal fingers curled around the object tighter, pulling the trigger.

'hishhhh'

Figures. Only the Robotnik would make something run on chaos energy, something he couldn't gather naturally.

'_Ta-chak'_

The SSSG was dropped with a clatter to the floor.

So maybe he was different. After all he wasn't useless. That should make up for the missing emotions.

A whir and hiss sounded as Metal Sonic left the fortress.

**I could create a little after bit here but I'll leave it up to reviewers to decide.**

**I hope to put up lots of stories this month, Yeah I might have a few ideas for Werehog Sonic and some shadow and silver stories. (Same plot different events) so **_**please**_** let me know how my writing is. Like it? Yes? No? Let me know!**


	5. Suppressing Super Sonic

He sat there quietly legs crossed with three fingers placed on his right temple. His face was the image of concentration mouth slightly twisted in to a frown. If he had been painted black and red he would have the perfect imitation of his rival Shadow.

He had told Tails no-one was to disturb him. He was to be left alone, even if Amy threatened bother him for a week, distractions were very dangerous if not deadly.

His breathing was slow and smooth, almost sleepy as he focused untamed energy building in his body. Chaos energy. Shadow, his rival, gathered it natural like breathing, Sonic, however, had to focus on pulling the natural chaos energy around him and separating the Negative and/or dark qualities of it to get Positive, light or neutral energy to manipulate. Unfortunately the chaos energy that was gathering around him was not his own but, a being inside him.

A faint gold wisp of energy, seeming like vapour or steam, rose from his ear which twitched in response. The stern face of concentration twisted in to a half worried-half determined expression as Sonic fought the rising level of energy.

_How long can you keep this up for? Hm?_

Instantly ears flattened and eyes narrowed, his defences were falling. **He **was getting more powerful, and teasing him too! That was never a good sign. 'Longer than you think' he replied in his mind, after all that was where the first statement came from. Yeah, that's right, his mind.

_Really? _The voice mocked, _Even if I do..._This_?_

Gold aura erupted around the blue figure that was Sonic. He clenched his teeth together a low and dangerous growl growing in his throat fighting away the aura. He was lucky; it flickered and went out like a candle. 'Yes, yes I can.' He replied in his mind again.

_Not for long. You and I both know that you can't do this forever._

As if just to prove it another rush of gold aura washed over him, this time holding longer than before.

"Shut up!"

_As if I would. You know I've been waiting so long to do this again. And to think you still haven't said anything to your friends..._

"I told you, **Shut up!**" The gold energy flared brighter with Sonics' anger.

He gasped as the energy, that was not his own, seemed to burn him. His teeth were ground tightly together now and both hands were covering each temple. 'ignore him, don't give in, don't give, don't give in...' his mantras of 'don't give in' we drowned out by dark laughter.

_As if that will help you! _

Sonics' hands tightened their grip on his head and he nearly wailed in pain. It was like a growing migraine. The gold aura around him was increasing dangerously, flickering like a strong fire. A gloved hand shot away from his head and out in front of him as if reaching for something or trying to halt someone. The gold energy raced to the hand and was expelled from his palm hitting the white wall of the empty room leaving a large black burn mark.

There was no aura around him now. He was still sitting there one hand held out the other in front. His eyes were closed as if he was telepathically trying to read the walls thoughts, but his breathing was slightly faster now as if he had gotten up and walked around for a bit. He knew it wasn't a smart move, not at all, but how can you ignore instinct?

_You gave in to you feral state of mind, only a matter of minutes until your giving in to me..._

"&#% you!" He seethed

Wow... That was beyond stupid. Is there even a word for how stupid that was?

He felt a tug on his conscious as the voice in his mind fed on the anger and was released. It was kind of like one of those days when your thoughts feel clouded and fuzzy. His hand dropped from his temple when he didn't want it to.

"You should know well enough by now how dangerous it is to control my chaos energy when your control" **He** laughed as blue fur became golden and crazy red spirals formed as pupils spinning in opposite directions. He began to hover in place laughing at his freedom.

NO! No I'm not letting him take control! I won't! I will fight!

The now golden hedgehog spluttered as it's golden chaos energy was blown away by a pure cerulean hue shaped very much like a chaos blast. Sonics' consciousness was returning and his blue fur had returned, the lack of voice and its presence pleased him.

Super Sonic was gone.

He collapsed on the ground his energy spent, a small smile graced his lips before dropping in to a deep sleep. Yeah, he may have messed up his chaos energy levels, dispersing Super Sonics chaos energy had taken twice the amount of his own chaos energy, but he got rid of a threat that should stay gone for a long while now. He was happy no matter the consequences.


	6. Falling

He was falling, fast.

And burning, falling and burning.

Yet he wasn't dying.

How he hated immortality.

He was facing away from the earth, his arms were above him being pulled down with his body. He could not see them burning, his eyes had been damaged by the atmosphere hours ago, or has it even been that long?

He was sure he had been unconscious for awhile and he was falling in and out of consciousness now.

Pain will do that to you.

Searing heat was eating at his back. His quills, already scorched, no longer protecting the vulnerable flesh beneath. From the sudden lack of feeling in his legs he was very sure that part of his spine was now burning with the rest of him.

Chaos it hurts. Why couldn't he just die?

...

...

...

Ah... His body was regenerating rapidly now, healing the wounds with the elements in the air and becoming more resistant to burning. Being the ultimate life form his body would change according to his environment faster than any other being. Unfortunately he would not be able to move for a long time. His body would still need nutrients to keep him...Alive wasn't the right word...Awake maybe...yeah...Awake.

...

...

...

His body had turned over, he was facing the ground now and it was coming up fast. His eyes had regenerated for a moment that's how he knew.

He rolled over again in the sky his back to the earth again.

If he was going to hit the ground at this speed he would rather break his spine then all his ribs. He didn't heal perfectly all the time.

This was going to hurt.

...

___________

What could only be described as a small comet fell down from the sky. The shadowy object continued its decent to the earth at an alarming rate, there was no doubt it would create a small crater where it would land.

Where it was heading there was no water to soften the fall, no trees to slow the decent. It would crash in to a small clearing in the forest unnoticed.

--

The burning feeling was gone but he knew pain would return.

The ground was so close now.

A single sigh was released then...

A loud thud echoed along with the sound of bones snapping and ripping through flesh as his body hit the ground. It rebounded for a moment; a trail of leaking blood following the movement, almost pausing in mid air his expression was captured. His jaws were open in a soundless scream of pain, red eyes were open wide in shock, his back arched as the agony rushed over his body like a pounding waterfall. Then...

The body dropped and crumpled, the eyes closed, the jaws no longer forming a scream, consciousness was lost.

A fragment of skull rocked back and forth on the ground where it fell, blood slowly drained from the body.

Just like his memories.


	7. These Little Words of Wisdom

**Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them? ~Abraham Lincoln**

He held his hand out to them. Even if they had tried to kill him two or three times, even if they did try to destroy the earth, even if now the very wound he had running down the side of his face was caused by the very person he was now holding his hand out to, he didn't care. No matter how many times they would run through a scenario like this his offer would never expire.

"Friends?" the blue one offered.

The hand was promptly smacked away as red eyes glared at him. The dark one attempted to stand but collapsed as his legs gave way. The same hand as before entered the vision of the red eyes, still offering friendship as promised. With a low growl of swallowed pride the hand was accepted roughly.

"Fine. But don't think this means I'll follow you around like that fox or pink annoyance." The dark one muttered.

The blue one just smiled back.

**Beginning is easy; continuing, hard.**

His breathing was ragged now, he had been racing around all day and most of the night, but he couldn't stop now. Not until he reached the end, he couldn't stop.

He nearly stumbled over a rock, wind milling his arms to stop himself from going face first to meet the ground. Even then he didn't stop, _go, go, go! _His legs were sore and he was sure the dark spots appearing in his vision weren't a good sign. He still had to save his friends, protect those in danger, stop those trying to harm. He couldn't stop, he wouldn't stop.

Another day and another night would go by, but he would still have to run. And run, and run, and run...

**Control your emotions or they will control you. ~ **_**Chinese Proverb**_

How could he let Eggman get to him?! Oh that's right... he his friends. Where is Amy? Here, still, lifeless, clutched in arms of a lost being. Who? Who was he? Sonic? Or Super? _Dark..? H-Hello...?_

His quills were raised, a dark aura flickered around his form like vapour or mist. His fur was dark, a deep navy-black. His tan arms held a still pink form close to his chest two other indistinguishable forms lay beside the ominous being. Closed eyes shed but one tear before the body he had been holding was dropped.

White eyes, in the dark face seeming to glow, snapped up to a hovering object above. Lips pulled back to flash sharp fangs in a furious snarl. The dark one lunged.

**Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up. ~Robert Frost**

Hands were clasping the sides of his head, his claws digging in hard enough to scratch the skin, nearing the point where they would draw blood. His knees were drawn in to his chest as he sat on the cold floor, shaking.

_Inaudible echoes of screams, crashes, explosions and gunfire roared in his mind. Three voices over the inexistent noise scared him. One was the final cry of a young girl as she fell, there was an image too, her laughter he would never hear again, as she lay in her own blood. The next was harsh laughter of a cruel man, the one who caused all the damage. The last was his own. His own voice stressed in pain, through torture, and experiments, again his voice rang out but in a roar of anger, hate, spite, wanting revenge. Finally his voice cried as it was now..._

Ragged, uneven breathing could be heard as soft drops of salt water hit the floor. He shouldn't have broken that wall in his mind preventing him from remembering. He shouldn't have. He shouldn't have...

_Splash_

He shouldn't have...

**Every picture tells a story**

Eggman had been staring at the screen for at least two hours by now. He always kept his security cameras on hoping to catch sight of the blue blur and his friends before they crashed in. But today he was rather...confused at what his contraptions had managed to catch a glimpse of.

Sonic and Shadow had managed to run it to each other, literally. That much was quite obvious, as the image on one of the screens depicted a fallen Shadow lying over Sonic, whom traveling at a slower speed when they had crashed, was under the darker Hedgehog. Both forms were still, as they had impacted at a high velocity, undoubtedly unconscious.

And so Eggman continued to stare just wondering how many stories would be created over the release of this image.

A smile formed under the large bushy moustache as the human hit 'send'.

**Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate.~ Thomas Jones**

Eggman grasped the arms of his chair tighter as he viewed the newest recruit to Sonic's team. Although the black hedgehog had been a friend, before he recovered his memories, they had now become enemies upon having teamed up with the other side.

He was beginning to feel like he was no longer able to fight against them. They outnumbered him by far there would be no way for him to output enough robots to take them down. When he tried to make factories to build his robots for him, Sonic and co. destroyed them. When he built higher levelled mech they each took one on, the stronger of Sonics' friends could take on two or three at a time. There was no way he could make enough 'Metal Sonic' s as he didn't have enough of the right materials to do so.

How he hated being alone, how he feared it. He knew he could not stop it, because of what he does, his friends will always go.

**Grin and bear it**

Another large chunk of scrap metal screamed past a crouching Sonic as the robot behind him collapsed. He stood and made a dash for another large bot leaping in to the air before running in to it. Curling up in to a deadly blue ball of sharp spines he shot forward with the curling rotation preparing to tear through the towering object. A large 'hand' of grey steel smacked the spiky warrior away causing him to hit the floor hard and skid farther along to smash in to a pile of scrap metal.

It hurt, to say the least.

Green eyes were hidden behind tightly closed eye lids and a sharp intake of breath could be heard as Sonic pulled away from jagged pieces. The eyes opened again and the blue blur shot forward this time skidding under the 'feet' of the robot and targeting the bottom with a hard kick.

The mech tumbled forward, crashing to the ground. Looking back at his quick handy work for a second then dashing ahead again a shadow came in beside him.

"Hey Tails!" Sonics' voice called out.

Tails waved, twin tails spinning behind to keep up with the blue speedster.

They smashed through the doors of a tall grey building with a large rusty moustache, and charged up the stairs.

His legs were aching now, He was quite sure he had at least two to three bullets in his right arm constantly stinging when he moved it, a large gash was on his chest going from his right shoulder to his left hip. His left arm was sporting four claw like gashes just above his elbow. And the latest wound was a large jagged cut on his back from hitting the scrap metal. He predicted he had about 15 minutes before passing out from blood loss, not to mention the searing pain. That meant 15 minutes to take down Eggman.

"Hey Sonic. You ok?" Tails called down.

"Yeah, I'm fine bud!" Sonic smiled back with a wave, ouch wrong arm...another pained intake of breath hissed through his clenched teeth.

15 Minutes to grin and bear it.

**Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.**

For someone with 300 IQ points, Eggman was very stupid. Sonic had managed to foil almost all of his plans immediately, and eventually did stop all of his schemes. But, one thing that puzzled Shadow is how someone so smart could be so stupid?

Rouge, having dragged the dark hedgehog to 's attack to join in the battle, was currently leaning casually against a cold steel wall watching Sonic smash Eggman's robot to pieces. Shadow was probably leaving right about now as Eggman was giving a speech on how he would come back with bigger, and better robots. The group, minus Shadow, left the scene quite pleased with themselves and Rouge joined them leaving Shadow to whatever, or where ever he was.

Eggman, back at his base was glaring at some blue prints furiously as if they were the cause of his failure. He crumbled them up and turned around to throw them out when a certain hedgehog shaped silhouette was spotted with his back pressed against the wall and arms crossed.

"Shadow! ... What are you doing here?" the doctor asked suspiciously, "haven't you and your little friends done enough already?"

The dark hedgehog glared with his unnatural red eyes.

"They're not my friends." He mumbled in denial, almost to himself, then turned to Eggman. "You are _the_ stupidest person I know, not counting that blue pest. I could have destroyed them ages ago in your position, hell, even GUN could!"

Eggman was taken aback by Shadow's behaviour. "What?"

"I thought you were smart enough to learn from your mistakes! With your knowledge even that annoying chao could take over the world." Shadow continued to rant, "Would you, no, _can_ you learn? 'cause those 300 IQ points are going to waste on you"

"Why do you even care?" Shadow looked straight at the doctor as he was interrupted.

"Why?" Shadow replied turning his back.

"Because I don't want to be dragged to your attacks just to watch the faker defeat you." He reasoned before disappearing in a flash of chaos energy.

**If you don't have a plan for yourself, you'll be part of someone else's.**

When he was first 'born', he was part of a plan to cure the world.

When the government found out, he was to be a weapon of destruction.

When he to be kept a secret deep underground, he was a secret weapon.

When he was found, he became a tool.

When he was lost, when he lost, when lost, he was nothing.

When he awoke, he was a copy.

When he was remembered, he was part of a team.

When he fought, he was an alley, an enemy, and neutral.

When he was trying to remember, he was manipulated.

When he was trying to be himself, he was being someone's puppet.

When he saved them, when they saved him, he became their friend.

Not a tool, but simply part of plan for a new friendship.

Left to himself yet to them.

Not to be used, but to be loved.

**Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do, doesn't mean it's useless. ~ **_**Thomas Edison**_

_Master computer, computing time wasted...Loading...Time wasted estimated at 79.895%_

stared at the computer.

"WHAT?!?" he shrieked, in a rather high pitched voice.

_Master computer, computing time wasted...Loading _the computer repeated what it had previously stated at its master's command. Outputting the time he wasted on his current project, the bot happily, if it had any emotions, continued to explain how the time was wasted, what it was wasted on, why it was considered wasted time and how to put the time to better use.

The bald man stared at the contraption he had made not but half an hour ago. It was supposed to tell him tell him how to make his day more efficient, sort of like an agenda that would help him use his time more wisely.

_Please halt all current projects and find a better use of time. Current project AC-663 will be useless until time of summer solstice...Loading main menu..._

He sighed, he was tempted to scrap it as it was, in a way, rather bossy, though polite, he had to admit. 'I make them just to smart sometimes' he though shaking his head and getting up to eat.

_Computing time wasted...Loading...Time wasted getting food... 99.45% time wasted, making sandwich 20 minutes, already ate 1.28 hours ago, no need for extra weight will slow master down, go exercise instead..._

A loud crash echoed as a now furious "WHAT!?!?" was screech angrily from the kitchen.

**Keep your eyes on the sun and you will not see the shadows.**

She looked ahead, always. A sign of hope, without him she would be left to darkness.

He was an inspiration a path to follow, an idea. Someone he could help to fight away the darkness. Someone who saw him for himself not a freak.

He was someone he could depend on. A person who would always offer and take only when in need. He was a someone he could trust. He was someone who could control the chaos.

He was there. No matter what he would do wrong he would always hold out his hand and smile. He was there to help him remember and see what he could not.

He was, hope, life, trust, light and someone who could bring calm by controlling the chaos.

He was Sonic.

**Let your words be purrs instead of hisses. ~ **_**Fannie Roach Palmer**_

He snapped and thrashed, twisting and turning. He would do anything to get away from them. He wanted to be left alone. He tried to pull his arms close again but they were restrained by thick ropes.

"Shadow the hedgehog, you are here from the murder of an uncountable number of soldiers, you have gone unpunished twice, once 65 years ago, from now, and 15 years ago, from now. Today you will be judged and your punishment set."

He snarled letting it out loud in the dark room. He was furious yet he knew well before that this would happen.

"We are well aware that you are created to be immortal, as well that you can control chaos energy. This will not stop us from finding a way to find justice for what you have done."

He snarled again. This was justice?! The first time he had killed was because there was a raid on the ARK that _they _initiated. Where was their punishment for all the good people they killed?!

"Though we do not have exact data of what happened 65 years ago it has been reported you killed at least 42 soldiers, 2 captains and 1 lieutenant. We have decided that you punishment for this crime will be 150 years"

He snorted. They thought they could imprison him for 150 years, were they forgetting what they had previously said? He could chaos control out of there in to time.

"For your attack on GUN 15 years ago you killed, over hundreds of soldiers, and 1 captain. You punishment will be another 50 years"

He shook his head. He had lost his memory at that time and he had been manipulated by Black doom. He had saved the earth then how could they punish him from that?

"To make sure you spend these years of punishment without chance of escape we shall place you in stasis for your total of 200 years"

Thousands of eyes looked down on him, no one could help him here he had scared them all away by now.

"Any objections?"

No one spoke out.

Except for Shadow.

"Hell yeah! Get your facts straight then try and keep me locked up for 200 years! What about all the innocent people _you _killed on the ARK! Have you forgotten what I have done from you?! Ha-"

A gunshot rang out and the accused dropped, restraints falling with the dark form as blood pooled from his chest to the floor.

There was no remorse as the form was dragged in to a dark room already quite cold and was placed in a purple, an anti chaos material, coffin shaped restraint that allowed them to spread his arm's out. They closed the top, which was like netting, and promptly left the room in total darkness

It was his own fault that in being cold to others, he would be left to the cold himself.

**Music has charms to soothe a savage beast. ~ **_**William Congreve**_

Shadow looked out the window of the house he was currently staying in, one given to him by Sonic and friends. It was nice not too big and not too small. Along with the house they had each separately given him a gift. Cream gave him a sketch book and a set of pencil crayons. Amy had given him several books, she had filled his whole book shelf with many genres, most of which were romance. Tail gave him a set of 'how to' books all of which he found quite helpful so far. Rouge gave him a baby grand piano, on which bench he sat right now. And Sonic had given him many different styles of music.

He was very grateful for their gifts he had been careful to put them all to good use. He had already filled in a third of the sketch book with pictures, he gave a still life drawing to cream to show her he had been using his gift, she had been delighted to see a toy chao in the picture and it was now framed on the wall of her room. He had read one or two of Amy's books when he was bored and gave her his opinions on the characters and plots. Tail's gift as previously said had been a great help to him as he had no clue how to play the piano at first, or read the music Sonic had given him.

He turned back to the piano now it was dark ebony like him with all eighty-eight keys, and it had a voice like his too, deep and rich, the low notes were dark but calming. He had easily mastered the piano, as Rouge had said after hearing him play when she had come over, he had given he a small rare smile.

Today he was looking at a piece that had Sonic had given him only two days before.

"You'll like this one." Was all he said before running off.

So now he turned to the piano lifting his hands above the keys after scanning the first line quickly. His hands came down softly on some high keys. He closed his eyes savouring the sounds as they resonated around the room. His eyes opened again reading the next set of chords his hand flowing over the keys lingering on held notes like a sweet taste fading on the tongue. The piece was so calming, his breathing ended with the dying notes of a phrase, and was brought back with a new line strong and soft at the same time.

A smile began to form on his lips as the music filled the silence with a feeling of awe. He turned to look once out the window at the dark half-moon sky, also catching a glimpse of something under one of the trees. It was ignored as the music was much to pleasing for him then to be worried about an unfamiliar shadow.

His hand reached out and turned another page notes ringing out clearly as if holding their own light in the dark. By now his smile had grown and he was in another world, absorbed in the music.

His hand finished softly on the higher keys letting them ring in the air for what seemed like hours yet only one second at the same time. He lifted his hand then placed them on his lap.

He looked out the window to where he had previously seen a shadow. It was still there, a large lump in the shade. Shadow saw its' jade green eyes open, for a moment he thought it was Sonic but when it stood in the faint moonlight he saw it was more of a monster than the sleek runner he knew, yet it smiled just like Sonic would.

He watched in awe as it left calmly, it had obviously heard what he had played. Music truly does warm the heart, he decided, picking up the piece of music. Debussy's 'Clair de Lune' would most definitely be one of his favourite pieces.

**No power comes without responsibility but powers misused.**

Sonic stood tall, and proud. He had a responsibility, it came naturally with his powers. He had protect those he put in danger, those in danger, those who are close to danger, and stop those who were a danger. That was simple one of his many responsibilities. He was responsible for the protection of the Chaos Emeralds, and those who came in contact with them. He was to use Chaos energy with care not to unbalance the negative or positive energies. He was not to let himself fall to negative emotions.

He knew that one best. Should he ever lose himself to hate, or wanting revenge he knew his dark side, his negative side would unleash destruction, death and so much more torture. So he knew it was best to be an optimist, hide all dark thoughts away behind his smiles and pride.

He was to treat all equally, he was forbidden to judge someone for what they have done. He could only lead them to the right path, even then he was not allowed to push them in to it unwillingly.

And no matter what damage is taken he had to remain strong, if only for his friends.

Knuckles had collapsed not only a few minutes ago, himself as guardian of the master emerald keeping to the same if not similar responsibilities. And here he was blood dripping down one side of his face one hand out in front of his friends protecting them from the looming figure that was ahead. He called on the powers he had used only when needed to and faced the figure before him.

It was his responsibility.

**One generation plants the trees, another gets the shade.**

They fought for freedom, they fought for those who would come after them hoping when they got old they would fight for them too. The fought to protect, they fought to hold their defence, they fought for a better future. They fought for.

He fought against them. But everyone knows, to fight for something rather is better than to fight against. And that's what they did.

**Praise the young and they will blossom.**

He had been young and nervous, they had teased him, beaten him, called him freak, mutant and so many other names. Yet here a blue hedgehog stood over him with a smile one hand out offering...?

A smaller hand timidly reached out grasping the hand weakly.

"C'mon, up we go"

He found himself pulled to his feet rather fast, losing his balance he bumped in to the figure, he let out a small squeak and backed up. He didn't want to get hit again. He was surprised when rather than being yelled at he was pulled closer, the voice spoke again.

"You're all wet, and I bet you're cold. Let's get you dry." The blue hedgehog gently swept him of his feet and in to peach arms.

What came next was exhilarating. To say traveling at the speed of sound was startling was an understatement. Tree's rushed by them at such great speeds he couldn't tell where they were going.

When they finally stopped and he was placed softly on the ground next to a plane. He reached out and touched the side there was a tear along one side revealing tome gears and motor. He made note that the blue hedgehog was inside the cockpit digging something out from the compartments. He could make the plane so much better, he was already adjusting some of the gears, the motor could use more oil...

He felt a hand fall on his shoulder, before he could move, thinking he would get hit for touching someone else's property, he found his head covered with a soft towel.

"You should get dried off before tinkering with machinery, you wouldn't want to get hurt now would you?" the blue hedgehog asked.

He turned to see the blue stranger wrapping himself with a towel to get warm.

"So you're pretty good with mechanic's, hm?" The hedgehog asked.

"Y-Yeah..."

"Think you can fix it?" Another question.

"Yeah" he nodded becoming more confident.

"Wow you've got' a be a genius, I haven't been able to fix it for awhile, I bet you can get this up and running in no time!" he commented.

He smiled "Really?" a real smile, maybe this stranger wasn't so bad after all. "Thanks!"

**Quitters' never win, winners never quit**

"That's it! I quit!" A loud voice echoed in a detective room. An alligator stood and stomped out of the room noisily.

The purple chameleon on the couch smiled. "That's got to be a new record, two hours straight of monopoly"

**Rome wasn't built in a day. ~ **_**John Heywood**_

Amy knew Eggman couldn't build a base in a day, she knew he couldn't build an army of robot's in one day, and she knew he couldn't lose a single pound in one day. And that's why she knew that she could not get Sonic to like her in one day. It would take patience, persuasion and...

"Sonic! Come back!"

...Just a little persistence.

**Sometimes the remedy is worse than the disease. ~ **_**Francis Bacon**_

Shadow stared at his hand. He was original created to cure the disease of one of his closest friends, he was the medicine, the cure, the remedy. But when GUN had found out about his power he was made to change objectives. He became a tool of war, no longer the cure or remedy, but the cause of suffering and pain. He was seen as an object, and he hated it.

**Tap even a stone bridge before crossing it.**

"So hedgehog you've gotten this far, but don't think you can go any farther" A spiky red echidna called out across a large chasm.

The blue hedgehog on the other side smiled. "You keep telling yourself that, I'm going to go and stop Eggman" he shrugged his shoulder, stepping on the bridge.

"As if!" the other male replied. Slamming his foot down a red button causing the bridge to collapse rapidly.

"Nyaaaaaahhh!" was all the other bothered to announce in his displeasure.

**United we stand; divided we fall.**

"And we will fight this terrorist, !"

A roar of cheers erupted from the crowd as the commander ended his speech. They had already dealt with the animals, though some people fought for their rights since they were rather... intelligent, they still made sure they were locked away. Though they had put up a fight, they surrendered when they could no longer fight without killing someone. Now they only had to get that doctor, this would be a piece of cake!

That was two day ago, before they found out what kind of attacks the doctor used.

"Get out of the way!" another set of robots marched in to the city, smashing through the blockade. Already GUN had lost over hundreds of soldiers, and the robot had taken over small parts of the world.

"Back up! We need more ba—" a bullet ended another life and the commander growled at the screen showing the current events of the down town area.

_Bshhhhhh- 'Sir the blue hedgehog has attempted escape' -Bshhhhhh- 'We have caught him, he seems to know something about Robotnik' -Bshhhhhhhh- 'Orders sir?' -Bshhhhk_

The commander wasn't surprised that the male Mobian, as they were called, had attempted escape. He was one of the stronger of the group. They had caught nine in total. Two were like rabbits, both were very docile, from gathered information they were related and the blue thing, not counted, was a pet to the younger of the two. They rabbits were placed in room and were allowed to wander some of the passages. In separate, though comfortable, rooms was placed a young bee, a purple chameleon, and a green alligator. This group was self classified as 'The Chaotix'. Although the bee had been classified as annoying the chameleon tended to disappear, and was put under extra surveillance. Another was a female pink hedgehog, who would tend to ask to be let free, had the strange ability to make a large hammer appear, upon previous experience with the young female it was well known she could use the weapon if threatened. So far these 'Mobians' had caused no trouble.

The other Mobians were considered dangerous and were kept in less hospitable rooms. There was a two tailed fox, although not truly dangerous he had hacked the lock on his previous door and all technology and tools were to be kept away from him. His room was similar to the others but with manual locks instead. The one actually considered the most dangerous was a red echidna. It had two sharp spikes on each fist and was known to have a fierce temper, this was still a problem as the dent of his metal door grew bigger every day. It had also been recorded that he had a form of energy, anyone who had tried to take it were beaten unconscious, the blue hedgehog made sure nothing more happened. The echidna had several guards around his door and they were given orders to shoot if attacked. The last of the Mobians was a blue hedgehog, assumed to be in his late teens, he was known to be very fast, they weren't sure how fast yet but they predicted his top speed was close to 70mph, _fast_. He was also known to carry a form of energy, the wavelengths were calculated to have irregular patterns and was said to be more like a pulse. Both headstrong males were kept under strict containment.

"Send him to the interrogation chamber, make sure he can't escape, I don't want him to slip from our fingers." The commander replied. He turned to leave but not before saying "If he refuses feel free to give him some...Motivation"

As ordered the hedgehog was taken to the interrogation room, it was heavily coated with steel walls and a one way mirror was on the right hand wall, in the center of the room the was a single chair and a table. Chained to said table, by wrists, was the blue Mobian, looking rather pissed.

The commander, behind the one way mirror, picked up the file of gathered information on the blue being.

"Sonic the hedgehog..." He begain, said being looked up sharply, at the speaker where the voice came from, then at the mirror where he knew the man was hiding.

"Blue Mobian hedgehog, late teens, fast, carries energy source" he read the summary the dropped the page, who ever gathered information did a very poor job, the rest of the page was blank.

"Tell me everything you know" he demanded.

He saw the hedgehog cock an eyebrow, then smirk.

"That could take awhile..." Sonic replied gazing steadily through the mirror. It was almost as if he could see the man through it.

"Quit fooling around and tell me the information I want to know!" the commander yelled hiding his surprise at how something so animalistic could act so human.

"I can't, not until I know what information you want to know, and even then I won't tell you." The hedgehog said stubbornly.

"I'll have you know, I hav—"

"Yeah, yeah. You have my friends, the Chaos's emeralds, potentially the Master, if Knux didn't try to rip people's arm off they're within 5 feet of him," the last part was mumbled more than spoken, "You're starting to sound more and more like Eggman every second." He stated, looking blankly at the cuffs on his wrists.

"Who? What?" The commander asked confused, he was just going to say that he had other Mobians in his custody that he could question. Ah, whatever this was working just as well.

The hedgehog was resting his head on one hand and looked up while the other hand tugged at the restraints.

"Ya'know, Eggman, Doctor Robotnik, person who controls an army of robots built by himself, master plan is to take over the world..." He listed a few things.

"Yes! Him! ! Tell me everything you know about him" the commander demanded excitedly, the hedgehog could have information on how to defeat the evil man.

"Oooh, you sound desperate. Is he getting on your nerves? Ya'know If you let me and my friends go, along with the emerald", Which he had been 'relived' of before interrogation, "We could beat him down for you."

The commander snorted.

"A three foot tall, blue hedgehog, against and army of robots? With all your friends, even with that red beast I doubt you could make a dent. I've already lost hundreds of good men to that villain!"

Green eyes shot up at the news.

"WHAT!?! You let him get that far!? You have gotten all the citizens away from there haven't you?! How stupid can you be?! Let. Me. Out. NOW!"

The commander was more startled by the reaction of the hedgehog. He decided to try something different hopping the hedgehog would calm down.

"Listen we'll let you go if you answer a few more questions, What are the Chaos Emeralds?" he asked calmly.

Sonic closed his eyes, he needed to get out of here as soon as possible, if Eggman had gone as far as the man had said he need to get this over with as fast as possible at take action immediately.

"The Chaos Emeralds hold the energy of Chaos, the Master Emerald is used to keep the Emeralds controlled, the Guardian is in charge of protecting and communicating with the master emerald. Some Mobians, like me, can use chaos energy. Now if were done let me out now. I will need all the emeralds and take me to where Knucklehead is," This was all spilled out rapidly, a gloved finger tapping on the table begain increasing in speed as he continued. "You will need to let Tails go to, he's the two tailed fox, Amy and the others would be good to. I would leave Cream, Vanilla, and Charmy here though. Got all that?"

The commander was stunned on how he received answers so quickly yet got orders on what do to so seriously, it was almost as if he had done all this before. Maybe he had been telling the truth before...

"Let Sonic out and take him to the red Echidna, let the fox, pink hedgehog, alligator, and chameleon out too. Have them wait in the main hall, bring the Emeralds. I will see you in five minutes." He ordered through the intercom. He turned to the Hedgehog again. "Is that correct?" the nod was all he needed.

A soldier came in and let sonic out and led him to Knuckles' chamber where the guards were happily relived of their duties as the metal door now had a slight crack in it.

"Hey Knux, let's go!" The red guardian nodded, and followed his alley with the Master Emerald, Downsized at his will, to the main hall. Tails, Amy, Vector, and Espio were all there when Sonic and Knuckles dashed in, the commander was waiting there too an assistant by his side holding seven shining emeralds.

"I don't know if I should wish you luck and let you face this on your own like you so proudly state you can or doubt your abilities and lock you away again" The commander said expressing his thoughts, he shook his head.

"Too late for second guessing, come with us and trust us, or stay here like cowards and doubt our abilities, either way we won't be an enemy" Sonic snatched the Emeralds out of the assistants arms before they could blink.

This sparked another thought from the commander.

"We'll come, I want to see if what my researches say is true. Can you at a top speed of 70mph?" he asked.

The blue hedgehog scowled looking insulted, the echidna laughed.

"Gain too much weight when sitting in your little cell Sonic?" the red one laughed, the blue one shot him a glare.

"let's go" was all he said dropping the subject already racing out the doors, just below 70mph wanting to surprise the commander later, besides they had work to do.

"Were the hell is back up?!" A soldier was screaming in to his communicator as another of his fellow men dropped. He looked up to see a rocket heading straight for him, 'this is it, were all gona' die' he thought.

A red arm shot out angling the projectile away in to debris where it exploded causing little damage.

"Quit cowering like a bug, stand and fight!" A voice snarled.

The soldier looked up. Strait in to violet eyes of a red, three foot, Echidna. He fainted.

"Wimp." And the Echidna dove in to battle.

Already the group had smashed through a fair amount of robots, from what the commander could see they were certainly the team. The pink hedgehog was making scrap metal of any robot in her way with her hammer. She would swing it and they would fly. At times she threw the weapon making it smash through several mechanical warriors an make it appear in her hand again.

The Alligator and chameleon work as a brilliant team. The Green beast would charge the biggest enemy and the chameleon would skilfully take the smaller ones out one by one like an assassin using Ninja skills. The team had already beaten down a large force and a sector of gun troops were working with the chameleon to take out the small fry, although not as fast or successfully.

The red and blue spiked Mobians started off together charging the enemy. The red one would strike low with fists the blue one would go high with legs. The two were strong to say the least. Then they separated calling out to one another at if it were a game until the young fox joined in. Then they simply dominated. The fox flew with his twin tails in a helicopter motion and would pick up one of the two Mobians. The one on the ground would round up a group of enemies and the other being carried in the sky would dive. When the fox tired out from flying he would land and team up with the blue one while the red echidna left to join the others or fight solo.

The status now was a huge amount of progress they had advanced and surviving soldiers were being taken to the main base where, according to his assistant, the other Mobians were helping with first-Aid.

Sonic called out to Tails again and they pinpointed a certain group of robots. Flooring one tails ripped in to the mechanics and doing as he pleased, while Sonic defended the fox, Created a universal remote.

In a rather casual tone Tails lifted the remote, "Now should I have the fight each other, find Eggman, self destruct or just plain old shut them down?" He asked Sonic.

"Hmmm.." Sonic tapped his chin as really thinking it over, "As fun as it would be to see them explode without having to touch them, it's a bit too much if you ask me, having them shut down Eggman could start them up again and that wouldn't be any fun. Oh!" He smacked his fist in to his open palm, "Can you make half fight each other and the other half find and fight Eggman?" He asked.

"No Problem." Tails tinkered with his remote for a few more minutes then flew over to the commander.

"If you please, press the red button" he said offering the remote to older man. Giving the fox a curious look he did as asked to find the robots take actions that Sonic had requested not too long ago.

"This is brilliant! Will it work for the other robots?" The commander asked.

"Not yet, I just need a few more pieces..." and Tail flew off to gather the wanted parts when he was done all the robots were bashing each other or marching steadily to Eggman. Highly impressed the commander smiled.

"Oh,ho,ho,ho,ho!" laughter rang out from the sky as a large craft came down from the sky. "So you've finally come, hm, Sonic?"

The hedgehog shot a look at the doctor. "Of course Eggman, I wouldn't let you take over any city mone or yours." He shot back.

"Alright then Sonic... Take This!"

Thousands of DNA tracking missiles were launched at Sonic.

The commander watched Sonic stand there before the weapons were only a meter away before simply, vanishing.

-*BOOM!*-

The air cracked as the sound barrier was broken the missiles turned a 180' and some crashed in to one another, some crashed in to Eggman's ship. None touched the blue streak moving at over 700mph.

"Holly %$%" was all the commander could say before becoming speechless.

Sonic released a 'Sonic Wind' attack slicing the machine in half, Knuckles yelled something at him along the lines of overkill, or show off. But Sonic couldn't hear it, he was going too fast.

Eggman frowned as he fell with his craft and hit the ground hard.

"See I told you we could take him down." Came Sonics' voice from beside the commander.

**Victory in war comes at a price.**

Amy held the still figure in her arms he was more red than blue now, as blood ran through his fur. How could the sun still shine? How could that man laugh? How could she not take revenge?

Because he was dead too.

"Damn it Sonic, why didn't you just run? Run like you always do? Sonic...war is the worst time to make a sacrifice."

**When surrounded by chaos, find peace within.**

That is what he told his friends when they asked how he could control the power off all the chaos.

That is what he said when in troubled times.

That is what he said when trying to explain the feel of the chaos within himself.

It was the control of chaos, which was the peace.

They were the same yet opposite, different but alike, one could not be without the other.

Forever flowing cycle of chaos, so carful channelled by peace.

**X marks the spot.**

Yeah right, he laughed more like moustache marks the spot.

**You can only die once.**

Sonic had told him that. Yet he was still alive, he _couldn't _die, he was immortal. So he asked. And got a logical reply. There are many ways to die, he had said, you are thinking of the physical one only, physical? He had asked. Yes, the body dies, well yours doesn't but mine does, even now, but you see you can also die in the way of your spirit. What? He had asked again confused. Some people lose themselves, who they are, they still live physically and mentally but they react with no emotion, they are dead, an empty shell. He explained. Yes... that made sense. You can die mentally when you no longer process thoughts, sounds, sight...all those and more, they usually are left in a shocked state or constantly leap from one emotion to another. He sighed, wouldn't it suck to die all three at once? You can't he replied. Once you die one way you can't return, you have no hope, kindness, or care, you are lost and gone. Sonic? Hm. He replied, do you think I can die at all? He looked at me with a small smile.

Yeah Shadow, you can.

Z.

"Hey...Do you think she's still alive?"

"She's still breathing, hedgehog, of course she is."

"Huh, She's a deep sleeper then."

"Maybe she should stop writing for awhile..."

"But then we can't go on any cool adventures any time soon!"

"Sure we can... we just have to wait."

"I hate waiting."

Hey! I'm back! I know this one is really choppy but I promise the next one I will write will be (hopefully) longer and smoother (possible Sonic/Amy). As you can tell I couldn't find any quotes or wise sayings that started with z so the last one really sucks. This should make up for the really long time I haven't posted a story. Feel free to expand on any of my short pieces. Some more up coming plans are:

Shadow story character variations.

Sonic story character variations.

Some Sonic Amy mush. (with some blood).

I _might_ (very small chance) write an actual full story with complete plot and everything.

And whatever you may suggest or randomly pops in to my mind.

Any questions ask away! Anyways Thanks to the reviewers!

If you want to listen to Clare de Lune check out **Debussy's "Claire de Lune" piano by Donny **on youtube it was the one I was listening to at the time.

Shadow1371 –Thank you I'm glad you like my writing style. I hope to continue to please you let me know if you have any 'Challenges' for me!

LilyRosetheDreamer-Thank you for you support!


	8. Battle Worn

She had rushed to the door as soon as she heard someone knock. She never would have imagined who was standing at her door. Well...ok, maybe she would but...

"Sonic!"

Her hands came up to her mouth to cover a loud gasp of shock. Yes, it was indeed Sonic. He was just not quite as she pictured him.

"Hey Ames..."

His voice cracked as if it had been over used, and he looked up at her with a sheepish smile, biting his lip.

It wasn't the fact that it was Sonic standing at the door that shocked her; it was the condition he was in.

Both ears were folded back as droplets of water dripped off them slowly. He was completely soaked and shivering, his arms wrapped around his body to do more than just warm up, by Amy's guess, the droplets that ran off his fur came off in shades of pink and red. He had a long gash going across his cheek from under his eye to his jaw bone, his back was covered in long red lines, most of the cuts and gashes were on his shoulders. He was gripping one of his sides to slow the flow of red from running down his leg, it was a jagged gash and the flesh around it was swollen and bruised, small shards were sprinkled in the wound. The smallest of the wounds were on his legs and hands which were covered in numerous scrapes, his arms were suffering the worst of them, some of the scrams looked like he had slid along pavement for a good mile or more. Amy was surprised he could stand at all.

Amy lead the older hedgehog in to her house and snatched a towel from her bathroom.

"Here, dry yourself off with this I'll be back in a moment." She handed him the towel and sat him down on her living room couch.

As Amy disappeared around the corner going upstairs, Sonic was left to tend to himself.

He ran the cloth soft over his drenched fur, indulging in the simplicity of warmth through friction. His ears twitched as he could hear Amy searching through her house for a first aid kit. Didn't she usually keep it in her bathroom? She must have moved it when it wasn't being used. He finished drying his arms and began gently dabbing his chest, wary of disturbing open wounds. His motions became detached from thought as he let his mind wander.

Had he really been ignoring Amy so much that she didn't expect him to come over for help? When was the last time he had seen her? He sifted through his mental calendar trying to find the forgotten date, he gave up after a time. His head unconsciously dipped down, man he had been a jerk recently. The only dates he could remember going to her house was when he was hurt or forced to. To put it bluntly, he had been using her. She had been nothing but a tool to heal his wounds. His head dipped deeper in shame. How cruel of him. His hands now directed the cloth to his quills and head, his eyes looked almost glassy, deep in thought.

Amy was standing beside him, but he seemed to take no notice. She worried over the dull emotion that was on his face. He looked troubled. She set the First aid kit on the low coffee table in the small, pale blue living room. Snapping it open she selected an iodine solution and a clean cloth to clean the blue hedgehogs' injuries.

Tapping the other on the shoulder she instructed him to turn to face one arm of the couch so she could tend to the cuts on his back. He easily complied, though, taking his shoes off first.

Pouring some of the liquid on to the cloth and placing the bottle back on the table on her right she pressed the cloth to Sonics' torn back.

The blue hedgehogs' back arched instantly and tensed at the touch of the cloth, he hissed softly through his teeth. His brows were furrowed in pain and teeth clenched tightly, it _hurt. _His fingers were digging in to the bloodstained towel in his hands. He did all he could to keep sounds of pain from reaching Amy's ears.

Amy winced herself as she heard the hiss of pain. She hated it when he came to her like this, yet in a way she was happy he trusted her to do at least something right. Usually he would try and prevent her from doing anything at all and when she told him she could fight he would suddenly change personalities then run off. She frowned as she swiped the cloth over another large gash, she was good at predicting what weapon had caused what wounds but the ones that were currently running in criss-crossed horizontal lines were puzzling her. They were thick and shallow, unless they over lapped, and they actually wrapped around the body as if what had caused it was flexible. Some of the lines were simply long red and purple streaks of bruised skin. And just how did it manage to get through the thick forest of quills? She was lucky to be a hedgehog herself an knew how to get through quills with her hands, how else would she be able to tame her own set and get them back in a head band?

Dropping the now soiled cloth on the table she picked up a new one this time she poured hydrogen peroxide on it, then some on the jagged cut on Sonics side. She pressed the cloth to the wound and let it soak up a large amount of the substance then she picked up some tweezers to remove the glass shards. She noticed the males hands tighten on the cloth he held as she pulled the transparent pieces from his side.

She knew Sonic was strong, but she also knew he was no Shadow, he could only take so much damage before his life would be forfeit. Sometimes she found herself wondering who of the two were stronger, not physically but, emotionally.

Picking up yet another cloth she poured more iodine on it and pressed in against the jagged wound again.

There was no doubt that this was the worst of the injuries as a very audible gasp and small cry came from the wounded hero.

Sonic felt as if his whole side was on fire again, he couldn't help it when he had let his voice escape. It was like being _there_ again but... he couldn't find a word to describe it. It was worse because it had already endured a lot of damage yet better because it was Amy helping him. It didn't make sense.

Amy finished with his side and swiped the cloth down his arms several times, these simply stung as he made no reaction.

She passed him the cloth and he finished disinfecting the last few wounds on his face, chest and arms as she pulled out bandages and put away the medical tools. She would have to call Tails later, some of the cuts required stitches which she had neither tools nor skills to do.

Wrapping the blue and peach fur with the white strips she softly hummed to herself and then finished with a snip of scissors.

"Let me get you something to drink." She offered and before waiting for a reply she headed off to the kitchen.

He found it odd but, there was a feeling of...panic, was it? Or fear...loneliness? Ah... that's what it was. He was afraid of being left alone, the safety of having someone near him, he wanted it... no. He _needed_ it. He couldn't stand being by himself right now, maybe even for awhile. It felt almost dangerous to be alone.

Sonic calmed himself by looking out the window to his right, careful not to twist his body to avoid causing more damage. Branches of a small tree tapped at the window, it was dark now and the moon was a silver crescent in the sky. He sighed, he should repay Amy somehow, and she wasn't that hyper now any more. He sighed and rest his head against the arm of the chair, his eyes drooped a bit looking out in to the night.

Amy came back in to the room, the normally energetic Sonic was resting. She walked over to him and held the glass of water in front of him, he accepted it and took slow sips. Amy joined him on the side of the couch and joined him in the entertainment of looking out the window.

"Amy?"

She turned to him eyes inquiring, 'Hm?'.

She found her lips pressed against the others and one of his hands behind her head, then he pulled away and looked back out the window. He brushed his tongue over his lips. 'Love you...'

"Thank you."

**You were **_**so**_** close Sonic! Ah... A SonicXAmy story. Normally I don't really care for this couple. It turned out better than I thought it would. Let me know what you think as always, any Ideas you want me to do? Challenges? Specific characters? Genres? Let me know.**


	9. Our Social Sides

Tails watched Sonic from a distance, the blue hedgehog was running, well more like walking to the blue speedster but running none the less, around a quiet Shadow.

The two together seemed to create a perfect balance.

Sonic was usually bouncy, outgoing and spoke his mind. Now with Shadow he had someone he could relate to of his age, and they would listen. Even if they were trying not to. And Now Sonic would act more mature and yet childish at the same time, treating the other like a brother, older or younger sometimes even twins. He would be reserved in true emotions to others yet open to Shadow, he would reveal his sorrow, happiness, anger...his dark sides, all his secrets.

He was childish at the moment scooping up wild flowers like he would with Cream. He had such an innocent smile on his face, when he offered the flora to the darker hedgehog, Shadow expressed the emotion of surprise for but a moment before burying it under a brooding mask after accepting the flowers to be polite. (Rouge would hassle him about being nice around the younger mobians)

"They look so happy together!"

Cream had come joined Tails when he wasn't paying attention so he jumped slightly as she spoke.

"How can you tell?" Tails asked, he didn't see it, the true emotions of the two. He had tech smarts not Social smarts.

" smiled, see? He never smiles like that when** I** give him flowers." There was a slight pout in her squeaky voice "He appreciates what does for him" she simple concluded figuring Tails could put the rest together.

"I still don't see it..." Tails muttered returning his gaze the two older mobians, now sitting on the lush grass.

Sonic was still smiling, not his usual grin but a true genuine smile, pointing out each flower and talking about where they could be found, what they could be used for, the time they bloomed and more. Just like how he would talk to Tails about technical components.

Pointing to one yellow flower he named it then trailed off as he looked at it, his eyes glazed over and the smile faltered as he continued to stare at the bloom. Shadow looked up from the flowers and turned to Sonic wondering why the sudden pause. Catching the glassy eyed stare of the blue one he waited patiently in understanding.

"Shadow's not even listening to what Sonics saying." Tail commented with a frown as the dark hedgehog was now selectively picking out flower from the bouquet.

"Yes he is." Cream corrected him, "He's waiting for to continue talking about the flowers." She smiled at Tails happily as she pointed out that Sonic had stopped talking in mid-sentence.

Tails turned to Cream again, she'd lost him and he was getting distracted.

"Why _have_ they been spending more time together?" He asked absentmindedly.

Shadow's ears perked as the voice besides him started up again, the flower was from Green Hill and grew in a small village, the information stopped there.

"What about this one?"

Sonic looked at Shadow again startled as he had spoken, he rarely did. Looking back down at the flower that Shadow had asked about Sonic recognised it instantly.

"It's a Forget-Me-Not." He smiled again as the light blue flower was picked up by the black being and added to one of the two flower piles.

"I like the colour" he replied.

"Shadow like those light sky blue colours" Cream smiled again, Tails had now given up on making his own Social assumptions and decided to listen to Cream's interpretations. Apparently Sonic and Shadow were very close friends.

Shadow was usually moody, intimidating and unapproachable. With Sonic he was patient and light hearted yet gloomy.

They accepted each other.

And that's all they needed.

Shadow stood with several flowers gathered in his hands, the two had been silent for some time, staring past the sky. He looked at Sonic, who also stood up, though the blue one stretched, and they began walking toward a forest that would eventually end at Shadows house. Their pace began to pick up until it reached a racing speed, over 80km/hr. The flowers were dropped.

Sonic darted behind a tree and emerged a few feet ahead a cocky grin on his face. Shadow had his own dark smirk. The last of their true emotions faded as the jog became a full on race.

Tails didn't bother to follow, Cream smiled on. Both knew they would never get to know Sonic like Shadow did until they were much older, even then they still wouldn't get to know him as well. After all the greatest connection the two had with each other was inexistent within the others.

Chaos Energy.

One held the light side, the other the dark side.

And they balanced the positives and negatives between each other.

They created the peace within the chaos.

They were the perfect balance.

* * *

Agggghhh yes I know it's short, and it sucks...

I had been hoping to put up another piece I am STILL working on but I wanted to get in to the habit of posting once a month, so a scraped this day dream up and spat it out. Critique please?

I'm working on a Shadow Silver story right now and collecting my theories for a chaos theory fan fic. Yay fictional facts! (that was an Oxymoron right?) And one more idea is blooming (or maybe two) having to do with Sonic's dark sides (fun to write about!).

So Review please! It's the only way I'll get better at this writing thing...


	10. The Future is Near

He woke up because of the sun, which felt like it was cutting in to his eyes, with its' bright rays. A hand was lifted groggily to cover red eyes, not red blood shot, but actual red iris eyes with smouldering black pupils. He could laugh and say they were natural but, what man made thing was natural?

He sat up, hand still over his eyes, and a dark, tattered blanket slipped and fell to the floor. Turning away from the window, the blanket was picked up then tossed to the bed where it sat in a rumpled pile, it would be washed latter. Tan soles of feet hit the old wooden floor; it creaked complaining about the sudden addition of weight, not that he was heavy. After putting on some clothes; gloves, socks, shoes, a green scarf, and a black sweater, his next goal was food. One foot in front of the other got him across the room and in to the hall through a door frame, which had long lost its' door, and down a 12 step flight of stairs in to a cafe like room.

From where he stood, there were two large windows; one which had backwards writing so someone outside could read, the other was simply dirty with dust and whatnot. The door, which was right across from him, had and oak frame with glass panels and a screen door with several tears both were closed and locked just like he had left them. A large serving counter protruded from the right hand wall, about three meters from the glass window, projected out about one and a half meters turned and continued until it met the back wall. The counter was high enough that three tattered bar stools were arranged around it and it was topped with simple oak like the three tables and several chair scattered around the room were made of. Behind the counter was basic appliances, against the wall was a stove/oven which sat next to the sink next to the dish washer, above there were two shelves holding jars containing various foods and ingredients. The counter had several cupboards which held dishes and a small bar fridge.

Slipping under the counter he selected a bowl and spoon from the cupboard, milk from the bar fridge and dry cereal from the shelf titled 'Sun flakes'. Mixing them together he began to eat.

Yes, his life was dull.

Usually.

Dumping the dishes in the dishwasher, he headed for the door after a quick glimpse of his calendar.

Today was going to be different. If he had calculated correctly.

He stood outside his sweaters' black hood was up, he didn't want any attention and began to head toward the nearest information center. He hadn't been outside for awhile now.

The world had changed considerably, first off grade thirteen came back, much to his distaste. Second, due to humans poor memory and several erased files, He was practically inexistent along with any of his previous friends who had long since past. And finally Mobians had gained kinetic abilities.

A change in the magnetic fields of earth and the sun changed the way signals were sent through the brain opening an unused sector of the brain for those who had the correct genetic code. (None of what was just written [or read in this case] would happen) Those who had the right genetics would suffer a migraine a few weeks before developing their powers, usually around the age of 7-18 on average.(5 years old being the youngest ever) It was hypothesized that the greater the migraine a person suffered the stronger the power they would have, the length of time would be their stamina for the ability. It was impossible to predict what type of kinetic power one would get, Telekinetic, psychokinetic, hydrokinetic, pyrokinetic, cryokinetic, the list goes on. But the world was unaware of the Chaos powers the he held, and much to his annoyance revealing his unique powers would put him in a spotlight he didn't want to be under.

Walking up the steps of the Information building he opened the large glass doors with oxidizing copper handles and walked inside. The front desk had two attendants, one who was halving a quiet conversation with a greyhound mobian police officer, the other tapping away at a keyboard. He chose to address the later of the two.

"Excuse me."

The tabby feline attendant looked up startled by the interruption; the office didn't get many visitors obviously.

"H-hello" she stuttered, maybe it was her first few days on the job, "Can I help you?"

He nodded and was about to reply when the officer intercepted the reply, rather rudely he would have to say.

"Shouldn't you be in school right now?" The greyhound implied with a cocked eyebrow, walking over, in translation- are you _looking_ for trouble? –Obviously expecting the younger to be a trouble maker.

"No" he replied dropping th hood of his sweater to address the officer, then turned back to the tabby.

"I-" he got no further as he was interrupted again by the officer "How old are you?"

He could have laughed and given him his actual age, orbits of the earth around the sun, and they would never believe him. Would they brush it off as a joke or send him to a mental home? He wondered. Yeah they still had those twisted versions of jail. He would probably be sent there and his supervisors would watch him outlive them, and then they would see things his way. Or would they?

_He took a step out, misjudging his weight collapsed on the ground, and looked at the door that was old and rusted. A single crack was etched down the hinged side, warm air flowed through. Feeling was coming back to his nerves, he began to shiver violently as his body attempted to warm him up and keep him active. He never could remember how long he had lain there, staring at the cracked door wondering just how long he had been stuck there in the cold chamber._

Time was trivial.

"Twenty –one" he guessed, hoped, wanted the officer to believe, he didn't want to go to school again and find out what 'scientific' law was proved wrong this time.

"Sure you are..." The old greyhound gave him a face between, 'who do you think your fooling' and 'I've got you now', maybe it was a smirk.

He pulled a face in reply, he hated smirks like that. "And how can you tell?" he retorted. The authority figure was probably stereotyping him just because the way he was dressed.

The grey officer reached in to a pocket and pulled out a small device, not unlike a floppy disk in shape, a square –ish rectangle with a button at the bottom and a screen in the middle. The greyhound held it out so the screen side was facing himself then pressed the button so it scanned the black and red youth, who crossed his arms throughout the whole event. After several hums and a soft click something appeared on the screen which made the dog smirk even more.

Oh, how he wanted to wipe the smirk off that dog's face.

"This is how I find out who you really are" The officer stated, then continued "Your eighteen, Male, Some kind of hybrid specie Hedgehog something I can't pronounce, You have or are on the verge of obtaining a power, hm..."

The officer began to frown a bit after that and tapped the side of his device, and frowned deeper. He mumbled something about it being old technology while the one he was originally addressing was cursing the new technology.

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

Cookie for your thoughts?

Ok so I've been working on this for awhile (still don't have a super exiting plot) and I've been considering making it its own separate story (The characters/cast in it would be Shadow, Silver, possibly Blaze and G.U.N.). I've also been thinking of changing it to 1st person p.o.v. So Comment if you're interested and would like to see it as an all out story or even if it sucks (As long as you tell me why...). Do you think it would be better in first person? Is the writing style ok? Anything you want to see happen? Not happen? Do you like flash backs? Feedback is hugely appreciated.

When I was writing this I had 'Mad World' stuck in my head.


	11. Lost

He lay there staring at the dull metal that could not take his life but would take any others. It lay there reflecting the light of the sun, warming his body instead of sending it to the coldness of death. His gaze, with half closed eyes, wandered to the six empty bullet shells that found their target, yet failed to complete their mission. His head, chest and throat hummed with pain, he would scream but his vocal chords had not yet regenerated.

He was lying on the floor, his back was to the wall, his face to the window where the sunrise was trickling through. He had one arm draped over his side, hand covering his stomach, still bleeding, covering his fingertips with dark red liquid. His other arm was stretched out as if reaching for the sunlight, and just beyond his hand was the weapon that couldn't take his life. He sighed, which came out as a bubbles of blood from the corner of his mouth and added to the lake of blood around him that matted his fur and stained the floor at least a meter around.

His brain matter had already regenerated, as it always would first, his heart was almost done, and his lungs only had some scrapes left. He attempted to swallow but his throat hadn't even come close to healing yet, hence the inability to scream in pain. Although his body was mending he always had a broken feeling, detached from the world, or hanging by a thread at most.

While the world would go on people would die and live and die again, he would always remain, the spectator of a thousand stories, his own would never end. And he would remain an outsider from the world as he would never fit into a story without distorting it into an everlasting story no being would want to read or hear. He was like a history book, a very unwanted history book that would never burn away.

His ears twitched as he heard knocking on the door, even if he wanted to answer the door he would be unable as his unhealed throat would stream with blood if he tried to stand. So he settled to stare into the sun which was now sending harsh rays of warmth at him, and light farther and farther from his hand as it was now reaching mid day.

The person at the door knocked again, it was familiar if only he could remember who's. He was pretty sure he had burned his retinas now, as even as he felt his eyes move everything was in shades of gray he would never understand. The light teased him and blinded him as it danced farther from him each second of the day, visible or not.

He heard the door open, he never did lock it, he had nothing worth taking. Footsteps seemed to echo through the hall, his heart had finished healing and was pumping blood through open wounds, blood loss was still a problem. He felt faint, light. His left arm moved from his stomach to his throat. Perhaps if it stopped bleeding he would stay conscious long enough to find out who it was.

Footsteps that echoed, began to splash through the red lake. His ears twitched again, whoever it was that had come was in front of him now, he could tell because his lack of vision had become darker, blocking out the sunlight.

"Shadow"

He inhaled, his lungs were restored now. He felt his throat become damp with more blood and he began to choke and cough on his own blood. He curled in on himself and more blood pooled from the wound. It seems his blood replenished its self faster than he originally thought. Or maybe his body had gotten used to this torture and learned how to regenerate faster.

The sound of metal scraping along the floor and being lifted then dropped into the trash gave him note that his means of escape was considered useless.

"Shadow" his name was stressed into a sigh this time.

He narrowed his unseeing eyes. He didn't want this person to be here right now, he felt like they were going to lecture him, what did they know about his problems? Why did they even care? Why were they even here?

Go Away! Go Away! Leave me Alone! Can't you see I want to Die! I want to Die! I want to die...

He would have snarled and spat those very words at that person if he could speak, but all he could do was clench his hands in to fists and bare his teeth. His glare was futile as he couldn't see his guest.

He felt the brush of air on his face as a hand waved in front of his eyes. That person was confirming his blindness. He heard another sigh and a slight splash. Did they just? He couldn't imagine it so he didn't try to. They could do whatever they wanted he didn't care.

Hands reached out and lifted his body in to a sitting position against the wall. On second thought he'd rather they didn't do whatever they want. He attempted to push them away but his body was too weak and more blood streamed down his throat like a miniature waterfall. His mind buzzed for a bit and he felt dizzy and closed his eyes. He must have been falling over for the hand reached out again and steadied him against the wall again.

"I'm going to guess you're unconscious now." They muttered as they probably saw his eyes close.

Wouldn't make a difference. Was all he could think, and he was quite sure they were just waiting for him to 'wake up' as he could here no further movement. That was until he realised they had gotten a damp cloth and were cleaning off the dried blood from his face. Maybe he did black out...

He opened his eyes and found that he could see again, yet he felt his throat was still wounded, but healing.

"Finaly you're awake" The cloth brushed over his face once more before they backed up and sat down in front of him.

He tried to make a reply but it only came out as a rasp of air then an attempted snarl which also failed to produce sound but he decided to keep the face because it suited his mood. Then he realised just how that person looked in front of him.

Sonic sat in the blood, legs crossed. He had patches of blood on his fur which was slowly drying, his gloves were lying on the counter, white, while his peach furred hands were covered in slick red blood. One hand lay on the opposite knee while the other held his chin. On his face was a smile.

Shadow faltered. Sonic didn't look right covered in blood with a smile on his face. But it didn't change the fact that he knew the faker always had a reason for what he did. He certainly hoped the creepy face was only there to catch his attention.

"You've forgotten, haven't you?" Sonic started, his smile dropped, so maybe it was just to get his attention, his tone became serious.

"You've forgotten you're promise" he continued "To Maria."

Shadow redoubled his attempt at a snarl. He hadn't forgotten! He had helped the humans enough already, didn't promises end when you've completed the task or died? Why would you care about my promise anyways? He wanted to roar, it was his promise to Maria, not Sonic.

Sonic obviously read Shadow's expression, but could not read the black hedgehogs mind. "You still need to help the Humans, You still need to find a cure for Maria, and that means you still need to live." Sonic scolded. "You've given up." He sighed and looked at the pool of blood on the floor. The sun was close to setting now as it was not visible through the window behind Sonic and the sky had grown dark.

"I can't allow you to give up until you've kept you're promise" he finished for now and gave a stern look to Shadow. "You're not done with life yet."

Shadow stared at the other hedgehog, he didn't forget his promise to Maria, yeah, but the blue blur was right about him forgetting to cure the disease that had been the trigger to his creation. How could he have forgotten? He looked at the pool of blood at his feet. It was dried and cracking slowly like paint. Then he remembered something.

"Why are you here?" He rasped, his throat was almost done healing, just sore now.

Sonic looked up as soon as the other spoke. "Why am I here?" that smile grew on his face again. "Because I need you." He tipped his head to the side, "And until I die, this world will be in more danger than it ever has been, even if Eggman dies." He looked down at the red floor with the smile still on his face. Shadow could have sworn Sonics eyes had looked red for a moment. "You don't know who I really am. You don't know what's inside of me, What it can do, What** I** can do." He let out a dry laugh. Shadow stared slight shock on his face, confusion.

"Because if I kill, or wound, then I need someone, someone like you, to stop me. To Kill Me." He looked up again the smile was sad yet looking for understanding in the other. "That's why I'm here."

He stood to leave, as he did dried blood followed him and lifted off the floor like ash, the moon behind him was empty and his eyes glittered like cold jade.

"You can't die anyways."

And left leaving a cold wind, falling red flakes, and a wretched Shadow, in darkness.

The definition for Wretched here is: _very unfortunate in condition or circumstances; miserable; pitiable. characterized by or attended with misery and sorrow._

Ahhh, I had been thinking of continuing this a bit more, but to explain.

Yes, Shadow is very 'emoish' if you must say in this fic. Sonic is also very dark. I wanted to create a sense of pity for Shadow, yet make him stand strong as if he is cared for and then have him pushed down again. Reason for this is he is always manipulated and used by other characters and almost never goes about fining his own goal. Reason for fic being titled 'lost', he is lost without someone to control him.

I made Sonic dark because I wanted him to be darker than Shadow. I basically wanted to flip their roles in a way. The It that sonic is referring to is Fleetway Super Sonic and the **I **he is referring to is Dark Super Sonic.

The last line at the end was meant to be what happened if Shadow did not keep his promise and really did die. It's Imagery I believe? Cold wind is Fleetway Super Sonics effect/ after math, red flakes/blood is ash and blood to represent destruction, and Shadow alone in the dark.

The second last line is meant to be a slap in the face for Shadow. It means Sonic didn't come because he was worried about Shadow he came to tell Shadow he was nothing but a tool to kill or save others.

It's kind of funny because I have changed light in this fic to represent death and darkness to represent life.

-.-

So Until the next fic, let me know what you think of it, if you were able to pick out any other little hidden things (I had been listening to songs while writing this...), or even if you hated it or liked it. What would you like to see in the future? I'm looking for some inspiration...


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